Skilled medical professionals can detect a variety of disease-related conditions by observing biological specimens with a microscope. For example, in a Pap smear examination, a trained observer can detect abnormalities in cells taken from a test subject's cervix. Such abnormalities are associated with cervical cancer or pre-malignant conditions, such as cervical dysplasia. Early detection and treatment of such conditions have greatly reduced deaths from cervical cancer.
To perform a Pap test, a biological specimen obtained from cervical cells is prepared and placed on a glass slide. Then, the slide is observed under a microscope by a trained technician or a team of technicians. For example, a cytotechnician might pre-screen a slide by identifying various regions of interest for consideration by a pathologist, who makes the final determination as to whether the sample indicates significant abnormalities. The cytotechnician and the pathologist rely upon their training and experience to determine how to screen a slide. Such professionals must demonstrate their proficiency at properly screening slides before they are qualified to perform screening for actual test subjects.
Training professionals to perform these and other cytological examinations typically involves extensive education, including observation and discussion of training slides. The training slides demonstrate a variety of challenging scenarios, such as those possibly encountered during actual screening. The accurate identification and grading of histological specimens from a variety of tissues (such as gastrointestinal, breast, and neurological tissue) requires experience with a large number of such slides.
Acquiring such a set of training slides is a challenging undertaking. First, the slides should demonstrate biological samples that present various conditions explained during training. Finding such exemplary biological samples may be difficult because certain conditions may be rare. Further, the slides are subject to repeated observation and handling and thus tend to deteriorate over time. Finally, a particular slide may be in great demand but be unavailable because it is being used by another student.
Thus, there is a need for a better way to provide a microscopic view of a biological sample for a variety of purposes, such as for training and certifying medical professionals.